April 19, 2012
Ontario

No wind moratorium from board

by John Divinski, www.bayshorebroadcasting.ca 19 April 2012

The staff and students at Port Elgin Saugeen Central School are not affected by the CAW wind turbine which is approximately 12 hundred meters away from school property.

Bluewater District School Board had instructed its Health and Safety Officer Ron Motz to conduct measurements of sound in the area and it was deduced that there was no problem.

Motz says existing minimum setbacks of 550 meters for turbines were designed to limit noise exposure to 40-decibels.

He says ambient noise around the school is 43 decibels and when children are in the schoolyard, that increases to 63 dB.

Motz says being that the turbine – although not operational – is still more than twice as far as away from the school then the minimum standards, he believes there will be no consequence.

Motz says they have no plans to re-test again unless there are complaints from those at the school.

This set the tone for the defeat of a notice of motion by trustee Kevin Larson who wanted the board to call on the Ontario government for a moratorium on industrial wind turbine development until thorough health studies had been completed.

The Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment Gideon Foreman, who addressed the board, believes the vote was a vote for common sense.

Foreman says wind turbines are not a threat to children in the area of Port Elgin Saugeen Central School.

He says wind turbines set back by a minimum of 550 meters are not a threat to people.

Foreman says the focus should be on coal and nuclear power which are the real threats to human health.

He says they believe wind power is one of the safest forms of energy production.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/04/19/no-wind-moratorium-from-board/